There’s a future the place we don’t want roads and common of us such as you and me can bounce right into a boat-sized electrical pod and simply fly anyplace on a whim. Whereas we’ve been perfecting the miracle of human flight for greater than a century, prompt air transportation has lengthy been relegated to science fiction.
However within the final decade, many firms have stepped as much as assist get flying vehicles and air taxis out of the Hollywood film magic bubble. Startups like Joby Aviation and Archer are constructing electrical vertical take-off and touchdown (eVTOL) plane that may taxi a number of folks round within the sky with out burning nasty gas. The air taxi dream is already spending some regulatory milestones: the FAA has now established rules.
Though these automobiles aren’t precisely the “flying cars” we’ve imagined, it is a quickly rising new subject with large established automakers like Toyota, Hyundai, Stellantis, and others both bankrolling their very own ventures or one of many dozens of startups. And there’s an entire lot of drama and unpredictability on this new trade, from fighting over “stolen” patents to the businesses that’ve didn’t survive, like Lilium and the Larry Page-funded Kitty Hawk. Scroll all the way down to learn the most recent on air taxis.